Dying Embers
by 6 cats in the bag
Summary: "He doesn't care that everything is pretty much on fire. All he cares about is finding Mello." Takes place after the explosion. MattxMello. Fluffy one-shot. Rated T for some profanity.


**A/N: I was really bored, since I'm sick and staying home from school, so I decided to write a fluffy one-shot of Matt and Mello. Hope you enjoy the fluffy-ness :) **

**Also, reviews make me insanely happy. So, if you have time, don't forget to leave a review. :) It would be much appreciated. R&R please :3 **

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"Mello! _Mello!_"

Matt's desperate cries echo throughout the entire blown-up building. He tries to avoid the splintered wood and burning materials, skirting them cautiously with light feet. He looks everywhere for Mello, hoping that he had managed to escape somehow.

But he never received a call from him at all.

So Matt got worried and decided to come search for the blonde as quickly as possible.

Mello, where the hell are you? Matt wonders with a slight panic.

As the minutes grow longer and the searching seems to go on forever, Matt's panicking grows. Soon he is breathing heavily and he starts to run as fast as his aching legs can carry him. He doesn't care that everything is pretty much on fire, and he doesn't care that the smoke is making his eyes water and hurt, and he doesn't care that he can barely see anything because the bellowing smoke is so fucking thick.

All he cares about is finding Mello.

Matt huffs and puffs as his lungs fill with the intense smoke; coughing and spluttering as he pushes wildly through the debris and turmoil.

Just then, he halts as he sees angelic golden hair splayed out a few feet away from where he stands, and the hair is attached to a head, and the head is attached to a body that is squashed under the weight of a heavy, burning thing...

It's Mello.

"_Mello!" _Matt screams.

He sprints towards the body and kneels on its left side. The thing crushing it isn't burning anymore; it's charred and the color of black coal. But it's still heavy, and Matt has trouble hauling it off of Mello, but succeeds eventually and kicks it to the side.

He pushes singed, delicate yellow hair out of Mello's face. He's unconscious.

"Oh, Mello..."

He lies on his back, arms sprawled out before him. A large, raw scar stretches grotesquely across the left side of his face and down his neck and across the top of his shoulder. It looks painful.

Matt tries to gently rouse Mello out of his unconscious state, but he's out cold.

"Mello, please, wake up..."

Matt feels fresh tears welling up in his eyes, and he wipes them away rapidly with his sleeve. The breeze whips smoke in his face, and that makes the tears fall. He cries for Mello, and he cries because the awful gray vapor is making his eyes burn and water.

Then, in that moment, he hears a cough and wheeze. And it isn't coming from him this time.

He looks down at the blonde in his arms. His eyes are fluttering open and he's hacking the debris and smoke out of his throat desperately.

"Mello..."

Mello gives one last cough and tilts his head back to look at the redhead, and he gives a low groan of pain.

"Mels...? What's wrong?" Matt's voice is full of fear.

Mello hovers trembling hands over the burnt side of his face and moans enormously.

"_It...my face...it burnsI_" Mello cries out painfully.

"I know it does, Mels..." Matt chokes. What else can he say?

Mello gently lays a finger on the raw flesh, only to pull it back in a blur before cursing the scar all the way to hell.

"Fuck! That burns!"

Matt gently chuckles to himself. He leans down and gently presses his lips to the burn, and brushes them softly down his face. Mello lets a soft sigh escape his lips.

Then, he looks up at Matt with wide, terrified eyes. "Matty... You came for me..."

"Of course I came, Mels. I was worried since you didn't call, and I decided to come find you for myself..."

Mello pauses before replying. He sounds sad. "I can't believe I couldn't escape the explosion that I, myself, triggered..."

"Mello, you tried, and you're okay. That's all that matters."

Matt kisses his forehead and helps him up. Mello groans with pain and stumbles. Matt puts a strong, slender arm across Mello's shoulders and helps him walk to the car.

He slips him into the passenger seat before getting into the driver's seat himself. Mello lays his head on the headrest and turns to gaze at Matt. He seems weak and frail, and his eyes are clouded with remorse.

"What's the matter, Mels?"

"I...I was foolish..."

"How? You are definitely not foolish, if you ask me."

"I let them get the notebook... I let them get away... I'm such a worthless idiot..."

Matt looks at Mello straight in the eye. "Mello, you are not a worthless idiot. You are strong, and vicious, and swift, and beautiful."

Mello manages a tiny smile.

"And, yeah, the notebook slipped out of your hands. So what? I'm sure that you can get it back. Because I believe in you, Mihael Keehl. And you're definitely first in my eyes."

"..."

Mello doesn't know what to say. It was such a wonderful compliment, it leaves him fumbling for the right words. All he can do is grin from ear to ear.

"But my scar...it's hideous."

"Mello, if you personally ask me, it makes you look like a badass. Not that you weren't a badass before, but it makes you look like a complete badass. A swift, terrifying one. People will run away when they see you, because you look so menacing. Even Near would be happy to oblige."

Mello snorts at the sound of his rival's name. But he quickly pushes Near to the back of his mind.

"You sure?"

"I am absolutely, extremely, intolerably positive." Matt nods his head at every word.

Mello smiles. Then, with much aching effort, he leans forward and kisses Matt's flushed cheek.

"Thank you, Matty, for being there for me when I need you the most. I don't know what I did to deserve you."

"No, I don't know what I did to deserve you, Mels."

Mello smiles. Then, without thinking much, he crawls into Matt's arms and lies his head against his chest. He closes his eyes and breathes in his scent.

Matt grins and wraps his arms around Mello's slender body. "I love you so much, Mello."

"I love you more."

"I love you most."

"Are we going to continue this for the whole night?"

"Probably."

They both laugh. They laugh until their stomachs hurt. They laugh until they cry. And they laugh until they fall asleep in each other's arms.

_I love you..._


End file.
